Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Two-Thirds of Hawija Area Freed By Iraqi Forces

The Hawija operation is heading towards its final phase.
Roughly one-third of the Hawija district remained under Islamic State control,
and at the current pace that could be freed in just a few days.

The Iraqi forces have made steady progress since September
30. The Alas and Ajeel oil fields in Salahaddin were said to be taken
after two days of fighting. IS set 34 wells on fire to cover its retreat from
air strikes. 26
villages in the Hawija district were freed
as well by the Federal Police, the Rapid Reaction units, and the Hashd.

By the third day two-thirds of the Hawija operation was
completed. 46 villages
were liberated. The government forces were still moving through the Makhoul
Mountains and the militants pulled out of the Alas field setting more oil wells
on fire,
this despite the announcements both had been freed in the previous days. Deputy
Hashd commander Abu Mahdi Muhandis said that the Hashd had
gone through the last third of the Hamrin Mountains. A mass grave with executed
soldiers and police was also discovered.
At the end of the three days all that was left was the last third of the Hawija
district in the east. With the fast advance the Iraqis have been making that
last section could be taken in just two to three days.

SOURCES

Al Forat News,
“Daash set three oil wells on fire near Hawija,” 10/2/17

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com